The outpatient facility was established as a treatment and research resource for a variety of studies in seven key areas which include the following: a) biological investigations of the "well-state"; (b) the usefulness of couples group therapy in management of recurrent affective illness; (c) assessment of interpersonal relationships and family dynamics in bipolar families; (d) outcome studies; (e) prophylactic efficacy of various drug regimens; (f) the evaluation of genetic markers in affective illness; (g) the phenomenology of multigenerational families with affective illness. The project on couples group therapy has revealed significantly better social functioning, family interaction and mental status in those patients maintained on lithium carbonate in conjunction with couples group therapy compared to manic-depressive patients maintained adequately on lithium, but not receiving adjunctive couples therapy. Long-term outcome has been found to correlate with age of onset, rapidity of cycles and family history. BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES: Chodoff, P. and Goodwin, F.K: Psychotherapy or Pharmacotherapy. J. Am. Acad. Psychoanalysis 4: 275-277, 1976. Davenport, Y.B., Ebert, M.H., Adland, M.L. and Goodwin, F.K.: Couples Group Therapy as an Adjunct to Lithium Maintenance of the Manic Patient. Am. J. Orthopsychiat. 47:495-502, 1977.